There is currently no way of effectively tracking where a physician is located in a health care facility. Often times, other staff may need to know where a doctor is, for planning purposes such as understanding when a doctor will reach a location for planning and also for assuaging patient concerns. Also, knowing where a doctor is located may allow for contacting the doctor that would be able to give the fastest response. Such a system may also provide the ability to effectively determine which physician is most available for consultation. A system that would allow other staff to locate a doctor in a hospital would be a valuable tool for providing patient care.
Further, the quickest way to find a doctor is to either phone or page them to get a response, but a person using these ways must hope that the doctor responds in a timely fashion. A graphical user interface that can not only illustrate where the doctor is, but can also allow immediate communication via paging, instant messaging, communication over the internet such as Voice Over IP, or some other communication method would allow for improved hospital communications and ultimately would add to increased quality in patient care.
Further still, effectively contacting a doctor is difficult because the best way to contact the doctor is not always clear. The best way to contact a doctor may change during the day and may change from what had been previously scheduled. A system that can identify the best way to get in contact with a doctor is needed, especially a system that can identify the best way even though there were unexpected changes in a doctor's schedule.
Also, choosing and locating an available doctor can be a difficult task. A person needing a physician's services must go through a number of physicians' schedules before finding one, only to find out that the physician has recently become occupied or is located far away. A system that can identify doctors that are both available and close would be desirable. Also, a system that could track unplanned changes in a doctor's schedule would be desirable.